The Next Level: A BWWM Billionaire Marriage And Pregnancy Romance (8 page)

“
That’s
understandable,” Lyle responded. “I’m sure
Catherine will apologize to you…”

“
What’s
the point of an apology if she doesn’t mean it? She’s
still going to feel the same way about me, isn’t that right?”

Catherine
wouldn’t look at her. Chelsea scoffed, shaking her head. Of
course not, people like her never changed. Matthew laid a hand on her
lap softly. If it had been any other man, Chelsea probably would have
walked away from the whole situation. It wasn’t just any man
though, it was Matthew. He’d been there for her, taken care of
her, loved her like no one had ever done before. It was harder to
walk away from him than she cared to admit. She thought she was being
a little unfair. After all, it wasn’t as if he felt that way.
In the end, it was all that mattered. She slumped her shoulders
forward, stepped out of the car and slammed the door.

“
I
won’t leave Matthew, because of your ignorance,” she said
pointedly at his mother. “If you really think you know who I am
because of my race, you’ve got a lot of growing up to do lady.”

Chelsea
turned and walked back towards the house. Faintly, she could hear
Matthew’s mother trying to start in on him again, but he was in
no mood. He ran up to her, put his arm around her waist and walked
with her back inside. Despite her front, Chelsea was still very much
hurt, but she would be damned if she showed it in front of Catherine.

*****

Sangi
and Andrew came back through the front door laughing. When she saw
Chelsea, she ran up giving her best friend a hug. Chelsea clung to
her for a minute, but she could tell that Sangi was excited. The
woman took her hand before leading her to the bedroom she was staying
in. When the door was closed, she leaned against it.

“
What’s
going on?” Chelsea asked.

“
I’m
in love. I swear Andrew is the sweetest, most thoughtful, smartest
man I’ve ever met. We even picked up some stuff for the
wedding.” She saw the look on Chelsea’s face. “What’s
wrong?”

“
I
wouldn’t get too in love if I were you. One brown skinned
person seems to already be too much for this place.”

“
What
happened?”

Chelsea
explained to her everything that had happened. She tried her hardest
to choke back the tears, but they weren’t cooperating. Leaning
on Sangi’s shoulder, she sobbed as her friend rubbed her back
softly. When she was done, Sangi looked pissed enough for the both of
them.

“
Fuck
her, you don’t need her approval. Matthew loves you, that’s
all that matters.” She lifted Chelsea’s head up. “It’s
going to be okay. You’ll have the wedding of the century and
I’ll be right here to kick her ass if you need me to.”

Chelsea
laughed at the thought of her small friend kicking anyone’s
ass. Sangi’s general view of life was that peace was bliss.
However, knowing her friend felt that protective of her gave her some
comfort.

“
So,
Andrew huh?” Chelsea asked wiping her face off on her arm.

Sangi
tried to hide her excitement, but it came bursting out of her. “He’s
so sweet! We talked mostly then he held my hand on the way back. It
was so romantic,” she said with a sigh.

“
You’re
so dramatic. Just don’t get too attached, he has a girlfriend
you know?”

Sangi’s
face fell a little. Chelsea instantly regretted that she had even
said anything. As far as she knew it was true, but she hated to see
her friend so sad. She laid a hand on Sangi’s softly.

“
Why
don’t you just ask him if he’s single or not? I don’t
know the whole story,” Chelsea said softly.

“
What
is
the
story?”

Chelsea
told her friend what she’d heard about Andrew. It wasn’t
very much, but it still seemed to bother Sangi. She shrugged her
shoulders when Chelsea was done.

“
I
guess I’ll just have to find out.”

Chelsea’s
phone began to ring. She leaned over to look at the screen. Mom. She
ran her finger over the screen.

“
Hi,
mom.”

“
Hey
baby. We’re on our way up there. It’ll be a few hours,
but we’ll be seeing you soon.”

Chelsea
could hear her father grumbling in the background. He could be kind
of cranky, but he had a soft spot for his only child. They bickered
for a minute before her mom’s voice came back to the phone.

“
Sorry,
honey. You know your daddy hates these cell phones. Okay, we’ll
see you soon. Love you.”

“
Love
you too. Bye mama.”

Chelsea
bit her lip as she ended the call. Matthew had met her mom, briefly,
but he’d never met her dad. She wondered vaguely how the two
were going to get along. Knowing her father’s seriousness
matched against Matthew’s care free attitude could create
problems. Still, Matthew wasn’t in too great of a mood after
dealing with his mother so maybe her dad would be okay.

“
They’ll
be here soon?”

Chelsea
nodded. “They should pull up in time for dinner.”

“
What
are you going to do about Matthew’s mom?”

Chelsea
shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe I can prove her wrong.”

Sangi
and Chelsea spent the rest of the afternoon locked away in the
bedroom. Chelsea knew somewhere below them Matthew was there trying
to get through to his mother. She didn’t really see the point.
As far as she was concerned, people didn’t change. She was
still angry with Matthew as well. Lying was the quickest way to get
on her bad side.

As
the sun went down, there was a loud knock on the door. Matthew peeked
his head in as if to test the atmosphere of the room. If she wasn’t
so angry, Chelsea would have laughed. He looked like he was planning
a retreat at the earliest sign of trouble.

“
Your
parents just pulled up.”

Chelsea
brightened up at the prospect of seeing her parents. She brushed past
Matthew, flying down the stairs until she saw them in the entrance.
Her mother smiled up at her right away, dropped her bags and pulled
her into a vice grip hug. She turned to her dad hugging him tightly.
It felt good to be in his arms, like she was a little girl again. He
kissed the top of her head. She never wanted to let go.

“
Hey
baby. We almost got lost trying to find this big ole’ house,”
her mother touched her cheek. “Don’t you look beautiful.
Where’s that fiance of yours?”

Matthew
walked down the stairs, hand in his pocket, smile in place. Chelsea’s
mother gave him a hug before he extended his hand to her father. For
a brief moment, Chelsea thought her father was going to just ignore
his outstretched hand. However, he soon sat the bags on the floor
before gripping Matthew’s hand. The only indication he’d
done it hard was the almost imperceptible wince that flashed across
Matthew’s face.

“
Okay,
daddy! That’s enough,” Chelsea said.

“
It’s
a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Ayers.”

“
That’s
Colonel Ayers. I hope you’ve been treating my Chelsea right.”

“
I
try my best, sir.”

“
Then
why are her eyes all red? She ain’t smoked weed since high
school, so I’m gonna guess, she’s been crying.”

The
look in her father’s eyes was deadly. Chelsea felt a shiver run
up her spine. Her father could pick things up about her so quickly it
was scary. In her mind, he had barely glanced at her, but in that
time he knew all he needed to know. Matthew’s mouth didn’t
seem to be forming coherent words anymore as he mumbled.

“
Well
ah...you see...I don’t…”

“
I’m
fine, daddy. You know I have a tree allergy. It’s really bad
here. Come on, why don’t we show you your room?”

Her
father glanced at her a while longer, before he finally nodded.
Matthew took her mother’s bags before they set off up the
stairs. Her parents were just down the hall from her, in case they
needed anything. Matthew placed her mom’s bags on the bed.

“
There
you are, Mrs. Ayers.”

“
Call
me Dorothy, please.”

Matthew
flashed his charming grin. “Of course, Dorothy. Dinner will be
ready in about ten minutes if you want to freshen up. Chelsea’s
door is down there on the left. Just knock and we’ll take you
down.”

Chelsea’s
dad scoffed. She had to agree with him that time. Matthew was doing
his schmooze control he used on all of his clients. While her mother
was flattered, she and her father saw right through it.

“
We’ll
leave you two alone,” Chelsea said as she steered Matthew out
of the room.

Once
the door was safely closed behind them, Matthew leaned against the
wall. Chelsea had to cover her mouth to stifle the fountain of
giggles pouring from her lips. Matthew shook his head at her.

“
Your
dad is scary.”

“
I
told you. I’m his little angel,” she said batting her
eyelashes.

“
Yeah,
right,” he looked at her until she felt self conscious. “Are
you still mad at me?”

Chelsea
nodded. “Yes. I don’t like liars. You said you would do
something then you didn’t do it. If you had, you could have
saved me a bunch of embarrassment.”

Matthew
stepped closer to her. She let him massage her shoulders before she
buried her head against his chest. The smell of his deodorant
lingered with the smell of his skin. It was comforting.

“
I’m
sorry, I really am. I’m going to make it up to you. I meant
what I said too, we can leave. Tomorrow if you like.”

Chelsea
shook her head. “If we leave early, my dad will know
something’s up. He’s kind of already on a warpath.”

“
Why?”

Chelsea
kissed his cheek before she started walking back to her room. “He
doesn’t like you.”

Matthew
hurried after her quickly trying to bombard her with questions. She
let him try as she slipped into her room. Although her anger was
lessening as the hours passed by, she still wanted him to know what
it felt like, what she’d gone through upon meeting his mother,
just a little. Chelsea had no real idea if her dad liked him or not.
While he could just about always read her, it was very rare that she
could do the same.

Chelsea
pushed Matthew out as she changed for dinner. She slipped into
another soft, cotton dress. This one was black with short sleeves.
She slipped into her black heels, pinned her hair up into clips and
put on a little makeup. As she looked in the mirror, she almost
wondered why she was still trying so hard.
Matthew.
It’s because I love him.
The
same way he didn’t want their wedding getting in the way of her
career was the same way she didn’t want to get between his
family. She pushed the thought aside.

Sangi
walked out of her bathroom dressed in a red and white polka dot
dress. Her long, brown hair flowed over her shoulders. Chelsea even
noticed she was wearing makeup, something that didn’t happen
all that often. She stared at her friend open mouthed. Sangi was even
wearing heels.

“
You’re
really making sure he notices you, aren’t you?”

“
Shut
up,” Sangi hissed. Chelsea could almost see the embarrassment
written all over her face.

There
was a knock on the door before her mother stepped in. She was
stunning in her long, black dress and low heels. Her hair was salt
and pepper by now, she refused to dye it. It matched her father’s.
He stood next to her looking stern. It was a look she’d gotten
used to, but she knew he was more than stern. He just didn’t
really know how to express it. Her father was dressed in a black
suit, black tie at his neck. She smiled at how handsome he looked.

As
they walked downstairs together, Matthew joined them. At the bottom
of the stairs there were people gathering. Chelsea raised an eyebrow
at Matthew. He shrugged his shoulders. They made their way into the
dining room. The smaller table had been replaced with a long one.
People were either sitting down or milling around talking to each
other.

Andrew
walked up to them, a big frown on his face. He was fidgeting with his
tie, looking uncomfortable. When his eyes fell on Sangi, he paused
for a moment. She smiled at him, but he didn’t return it.